Machine for pressing concrete bricks.



No. 777,155. PATENTED DEC. 13, 1904. H. H. SPEARS.

MACHINE FOR. PRESSING CONCRETE BRICKS.

APPLICATION FILED AUG. 20. 1904..

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PATENTBD DEG. Is, 1904.

H. H. SPEARS.

APPLICATION FILED AUG. 20. 1904.

MACHINE FOR PRESSING CONCRETE BRICKS.

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NO MODEL.

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MACHINE FOR PRESSING CONCRETE BRICKS.

APPLICATION FILED AUG. 20. 1904.

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STATES N ITE Patented December 13, 1904.

PATENT OFFICE.

MACHINEFUR PRESSING CONEHETE BRNDKS.

SPECIFTCATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 777,155, dated December 13, 1904.

Application filed August 20, 1904:. Serial No. 221A53. (N0 model.)

To all, whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, HENRY H. SrnARs,a citizen of the United States, and a resident of the city of Louisville, county of Jefferson, and State of Kentucky, have invented a new and useful Machine for Pressing Concrete Bricks, for which I wish to obtain the protection of a patent from the United States and of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to a machine for making from concrete bricks of the ordinary size. The underlying principle of the machine, which can be worked by hand, is this, that comparatively little pressure is needed to give to concrete bricks the consistency and density for standing and for becoming by exposure to the air fit for building purposes.

I have heretofore invented a mold,for which I hold United States Patent N 0. 747,496, dated December 22, 1903, leaving the manner of bringing pressure to bear on the bricks open for any machine already in use or thereafter to be contrived. The mold which is included in my present machine has this advantage (among others) over that heretofore patented, that it has permanent metal slides, while the former mold required a separate set of wooden slides for every set of bricks that passed throughthe mold.

I attain the objects of my invention by an apparatus or machine which is illustrated in the appended drawings, (three sheets,) which accompany this specification, and in which Figure 1 is a vertical section in the plane of the wheels, showing the lid of the mold thrown upward. Fig. 2 is an elevation showing the wheels edgewise. Fig. 3 is in the same plane as Fig. 2, but shows only the mold and lid, the latter being shut down. Fig. 4 shows separately the mold with the plunger under it and the lever which moves the latter. It is drawn in the same plane as Fig. 1. The main object of Fig. 4 is to show the lever and plunger in changing positions.

The same numbers in each figure denote the same parts, as follows:

1 is the frame of the machine.

2 is the mold, made up of four sides without bottom or lid, the front being slotted to receive the slides. Its longer dimension is in the horizontal of Fig. 1 such as to hold ten or any other desired number of bricks lying on edge, with the slides between them, say, twenty-two inches, its height about eight inches, its third dimension about eight inches or over, according to the desired length of the bricks.

3 denotes the slides, of which nine are shown. Their height is that of the pressed brickssay, four inches-with a slight excess by reason of the grooves hereinafter mentioned. 4 marks the rods which connect these slides with each other, but at their front end only, leaving enough of each slide free to cut the bricks.

5 is a pinion attached to the frame formed by the slides and rods.

6 is a rack running at right angles to the plane of Fig. 1, over which rack the pinion 5 runs when this frame of rods and slides is pulled forward.

7 is the lid which is to act as a die on the concrete in the mold. It is of wood, and its lower surface is covered with metal plates, one more than the number of slides. The spaces between these metal plates are marked 9 g and form grooves about one-sixteenth of an inch in depth right above the slides when the lid is shut down.

8 is the shaft, bearing two coiled springs, which will throw the lid back whenever it is released from the catch hereinafter described.

9 is a bent rod which works a metal frame above the lid, holding it down or releasing it. It has attached to it the two rods 27, with catches at their ends, as shown.

10 is the driving-wheel, turned by a crank or otherwise. Its shaft runs through a beam in the frame and bears the pinion 19, which meshes with the cog-wheel 11, having about seven teeth for each tooth of the pinion. The shaft of the cog-wheel bears also the cam 20, which in Fig. 1 is drawn in dotted lines, because it is partially concealed from view by the wheels. This cam is of rather irregular form, there being first a slightly eccentric half-circle, then an arc of a circle of much greater radius, and on the return a straight or almost straight line. This cam in turning its longer eccentric distance downward presses down the lever 17, which turns upon the pivot 18 in the frame. This lever is made up of two broad bars, which at the end touched by the cam are connected by the bolt marked 26.

Both bars can be seen in Fig. 2, while in Fig. 1 the forward one hides the one behind it. The other end of the lever rises when the first-named is borne down by the cam, and in doing so raises the plunger 16. In order to keep this in astraight line, the lever connects with it through hanger 23, which hanger connects with the lever at 2 1 by turning upon a bolted shaft and connects in like manner with the plunger at 25.

A rod 22, running up from 25, bears the rack 6 above mentioned.

The top of the plunger is formed by a cap, which is a right-angled plate fitting into the mold 2, and upon this cap thefollowing board 35 (not part of the machine) would be placed when it is in operation. a

12 is a thin shaft running from the frame, where it is set in the bar 34, to the mold, where the wedge-shaped projection 13 is set, so as to move with the rotation of 12. This shaft 12 bears a spur 28, which in the turning of the cog-wheel 11 will be struck by the projection 29 at the side thereof. Thus the impact of 29 on 28 will move 13, so that it will strike the bent end of rod 9, whereby the catches 27 27 will be taken up and will release the lid 7, making it fly up. The part 13 has the coiled spring 14 attached to it, so as to put it back into its normal position when it has done its work.

15 is a platform which is lifted upward by the rod 22 parallel to the plunger till it stops in front of the lower part of the mold, on which platform the slides are drawn out after doing their work.

30 31 32 33 represent a frame over the lid 7 of the mold-namely, 32 is a curved iron bar hinged to the mold at one end by the halfcircular guiding-rod 33. 30 is a slotted iron plate attached at right angles to the lid. The slot eases the upward motion of the lid, while the steel bar 31 attached to the mold will keep it from flying back too far.

The operation of the machine is as follows: The following-board 35 is put on the cap of the plunger. The slides then are pushed into the mold upon the board. Thereupon a charge of concrete is put on the board between the slides and between the two outside slides and the sides of the mold to a height of about six inches-that is, to the height of the slides and two inches above them. The lid is then closed down by hand, whereupon the driving-wheel is turned, giving through the pinion a slower motion to the cog-wheel and cam. The cam by lengthening out depresses one end of the lever, and thus raises the other end, which lifts the plunger, doing this by reason of the interposed hanger in a straight vertical direction. The plunger-cap presses the mass of concrete against the lid and reduces the soft mass to about two-thirds of its height, while the slides out into the mass above them, so as to complete the separation of the whole into the required number of bricks until the slides run into the grooves above them, giving to the bricks a smooth surface and sharp outline. The position of the cam and of the projection 29 on the cog-wheel is such that as soon as this is eifected 29 will strike the spur 28, shaft 12 will turn, 13 will strike 9 and undo the catches 27 27, whereupon the coiled springs 8 will throw the lid upward. The frame of slides is then pulled out to rest on the platform 15. The object of the rack and pinion 5 and 6 is to straighten, and thus to ease the motion of pulling out the frame of slides. The cam then goes on further depressing one end of the lever. The plunger still rises, and the lid having been removed the plunger-top carries the following-board and its charge of bricks clear through the mold. Thereupon the following-board with the bricks, which are now reduced to their proper size, is carried away and the process may begin again.

I/Vhat I claim as my invention, and desire to protect by Letters Patent, is-

1. In a machine for making concrete bricks, the combination of a bottomless mold of the size to hold a given number of bricks, with a plunger movable upward having a cap fitting into the mold, slides one less in number than the bricks which the mold will hold, running in slots in the front wall of the mold,

and a lid which can be clamped down upon the mold, substantially as shown in the drawings and specification.

2. In a machine for making concrete bricks the combination of a bottomless mold of the size to hold a given number of bricks, with a plunger movable upward having a cap fitting into the mold, slides one less in number than the bricks which the mold will hold, running in slots in the front wall of the mold, and a lid having grooves to receive these slides, which lid can be clamped down upon the mold, substantially as shown above.

3. In a machine for making concrete bricks, in which the charge of concrete is carried upward by a plunger and pressed against the lid of the mold, the combination of catches holding the lid down, with coiled springs throwing the lid up, when released from these catches, and with a projection attached to a wheel that carries motion to the plunger, so placed that it (said projection) by its impact releases the catches of the lid at the time when the plunger has risen to a desired height.

4. In a machine for making concrete bricks, in combination with a mold slotted in front.

With a plungencep fitting into the mold, with Signed at Louisville, this 18th day of Ausliclleslhelcl in a frzfme by rods, ef a pinion aig gust, 1904, in presence of the'below Witnesses. tee ec in front tot iis frame, a p atforin Whie 7 3 moves up to the same level With the'plunger- HENRS S1 EARS 5 cap, and having a rack meeting and meshing Witnesses:

with the pinion attached to the frame of slides, A. LINCOLN DEMBI'IZ, for the purpose herein specified. LILY KING. 

